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Statewide election information is available online on all state government websites. In most cases, the media also provides additional resources, such as real-time vote results, for statewide elections. The same cannot be said for election data at the local level, specifically countywide.

In December 2011 - March 2012 Ballotpedia took a closer look at the type of election information available on county websites.

Each of the 11 states' counties, a total of 738, were evaluated on seven pieces of criteria: whether the county had an election website, the availability of current election information, ballot text availability, if an issues list existed, if election results were updated within a reasonable amount of time following the election, the availability of a ballot measure archive and the ease of navigation.

The charts below summarize the results of the county evaluation project. However, click on the state links below to view how each individual county scored.

County Summaries

Election website

Does the county have a website that displays election information? (yes or no)

The table below provides a summary of each state's counties and the availability of a website for local election information. Of the 738 counties checked, 505 (68%) had election information available on their local websites.

100% of the counties in the State of Washington had readily available election information online.

California came in second with 98%.

In last was the state of Missouri, 40 of the 114 counties (35%) had local websites with election information.

Legend

90% or more of counties have election websites50% or less of counties have election wesbites

Current info

90% or more of counties have current local ballot measure information50% or less of counties have current local ballot measure information

Does the county website reflect information about the most current election? (yes or no)

The table below summarizes the number of counties that provide current election result information.

Of Washington State's 39 counties, all 39 (100%) featured current election result information. It was the only state to feature a 100% score.

Florida came in second with 98% of its counties featuring current information, while Ohio came in 3rd with 96%.

In last was Missouri with 27% or 31 of 114 counties.

Note:At the time of the study, the next CA election was June 2012, therefore not all of the counties had current information available but most will likely have it closer to the election date. This is based on past practices.

Ballot text

90% or more of counties have local ballot text50% or less of counties have local ballot text

Is the exact ballot measure text or question available on the county website? (yes or no)

The table below summarizes the number of counties that make available the exact ballot measure text or question that appears on local ballots.

Only 1 state had 90% or more of its counties feature ballot text - Washington

2 states had 30% or less of its counties feature ballot text - Missouri (21%) and Wisconsin (25%)

Note:At the time of the study the next election for CA residents is in June 2012, therefore most counties had no ballot text up but would likely have that information closer to the election date. This is based on past practices.

Ease of navigation

How easy was the site to navigate and find election-related information? This particular criteria was evaluated on a scale of 1-5. (described in detail below)

The chart below features the number of counties that scored anywhere from 0-5 on navigability of their election websites.

39% of the 738 counties scored a "4," meaning that current election information was easy to navigate and readily available, as were current results. However, the site may have been lacking archives of past elections.

Only 39 counties scored a "5," meaning they were identified as having nearly perfect sites.

The ease of navigating a particular county's election website was based on a scale from 1-5, "1" being the worst, but still having a election site, and "5" being the best. A "0" was assigned to those counties that did not have an election website.

The bare minimum: Site only has basic voting information, no recent election information or election results.

Fair but only slightly better: Site may have current information but it is hard to find, election information not found through links which other website's have posted, site also may have old election information which has not been updated, no results posted or archives.

Good but could improve: Has current information but harder to navigate site or find information, takes more than 4 clicks through links to find information, may not update information as quickly or have sample ballots.

Very good information: Current election information available as are current results, may be lacking archives.

References

↑At the time of the study, the next CA election was June 2012, therefore not all of the counties had current information available but most will likely have it closer to the election date. This is based on past practices.

↑At the time of the study the next election for CA residents is in June 2012, therefore most counties had no ballot text up but would likely have that information closer to the election date. This is based on past practices.